Nancy Jackson’s Statement
To reveal the rich possibilities of hope within the universal human experiences of loneliness and isolation seems a good goal for Human exploration, so this is what I do. I am especially interested in developing images that unite the spiritual and material world. Though I have worked most of my life with total abstraction to accomplish my task, I also have found the semi-abstraction of Russian and Greek icons to be powerful locations of these ideas. I ground my work in the fundamental premise that good and evil cannot be clearly defined and that this mystery holds each of us captive to an existence that may not always produce comfort, happiness and security as defined by our culture. It is my goal to expose the possibilities within this mystery and to discourage escapism. Images of movement, change and transformation and a sense of being guarded, protected and nurtured in the transformative process are also important ideas in many of my works. My understanding of being “guarded, protected and nurtured” does not exclude suffering, and it is not equal to “happiness, comfort and security.” Additionally, my artwork is the continuing creation of my life vision; a vehicle and, at the same time, an incarnation of this inner journey.
I pursue these ideas within the mid-20th Century understanding of the shallow picture plane, which is particularly well suited to shapes and methods that are natural to tapestry and iconography.
Nancy Jackson’s Biography
For 24 years I have pursued weaving as a career. In 1980 when I was living on the Big Sky prairie of Montana, Lila Nelson, retired Textile Curator of Vesterheim Museum, Decorah, Iowa was my first tapestry instructor. Lila’s instruction and her elegance as a person, along with the childhood education in fibers I received from my mother (also Lila), inspired me to a vision of myself as a fiber artist. Driven by my memory of these women, I wove and taught many forms of multi-harness and tapestry weaving for many years. Early on a tendency formed in me to pursue image-based weaving. In 1986 I made the decision to abandon all forms of weaving but pictorial tapestry. Shortly after this, I entered a three-year apprenticeship with Jean-Pierre and Yael Lurie Larochette where I received an outstanding education in Aubusson tapestry weaving and designing. Upon completing this training, I opened my own studio where I worked to achieve Master Weaver status. Since then my work has been regularly exhibited nationally and internationally and has been granted numerous awards. In addition to exhibition, I accept both tapestry and iconography commissions, write occasionally, and teach all levels of Aubusson-Gobelin methods. An apprentice and two free-lancing independent weavers worked with me on my last project, Incarnation Triptych, which was the centerpiece for my first retrospective exhibition at Vesterheim Museum, Decorah, IA.
As with my apprenticeship with the Larochette’s, I have pursued an apprentice-type education for my sacred painting (iconography). In 2000 I lived with and studied Russian and Byzantine iconography with Xseniya Pokrovsky, internationally-renowned restorer of 16th century Russian icons. The previous year I studied Russian and Byzantine iconography with Aleksandr Kharon, a Russian immigrant iconographer in Berkeley, CA, and Russian and Ethiopian iconography with D. S. Christopher Gosey of Boston, MA. These educational pursuits have been complimented with my study of art as it relates to theology with Dr. Robert Goeser, now-emeritus Professor of Church History, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. Being an avid learner, I have continued to study on my own in the areas of religion, philosophy, literature, art history and textile history. These pursuits are layered atop my basic youthful education at College of Marin in the 1960-70’s. I have worked as an artist in Vallejo, CA for 17 years and in Montana for 7 years prior to that.
